Fleeting Memories
by Shiroku.Shi
Summary: Memories, from so long ago; a girl with long fawn colored hair, who knows nothing, and an arrogant boy with long blonde hair. However, over time after a certain separation, their memories of each other became fleeting. When they meet each other a few years later, everything is different. Deidara x OC.
1. Prologue

Author's Note;

Usually I wouldn't really do this for a first fanfiction, but I just adore this whole pairing I came up with in my head, and I've been wanting to write a whole story for it. The one thing is that I'll be using an OC in this, and in the story, it'll mostly depict around her and Deidara.

Of course, even if I'm going to bring an OC into this story, I'll try and keep other characters in character, and hopefully my OC will not be depicted as a 'Mary Sue'.

Don't blame me though if they end up out of character every now and then… or the whole time.

Alright, the OC I'll be using for this story is a girl called Reiko. Two years younger than Deidara, and from Konohagakure. From the story and all that, I might twist some things from the storyline, but I'll try to keep it…. somewhat close to the storyline.

Okay, I have to say, this chapter will be more of a… prologue. Yeah, let's say it's a prologue about the OC and her connection with the Akatsuki, her past and all that. I have to admit though; it might not be the most interesting prologue.

However, when I get to the first chapter, it'll start back when the girl is eight years of age. So, this would make Deidara ten, and living in Iwagakure.

* * *

"Fleeting Memories."

Prologue.

* * *

A feeble girl with long fawn colored hair down to her not yet developed hips was steadily heading down a street of one of the five shinobi villages, Konohagakure. As she weaved through the crowd that would block a straight pathway for one, the pair of curious sea foam green eyes she bared searched throughout the area.

On first glance, one would probably be able to guess the age of the small girl- eight years old. It wasn't that hard to tell, and even if they got it wrong, the number they guessed would probably be at least close to her real age.

Of course, at her age, like most children in Konohagakure, she was a student at the ninja academy. However, at the current moment, she had recently gotten out from the academy for the day, and was simply wandering about. She had no family to go home to, so what would it be worth- heading back to a lonely apartment?

Her parents- two loving, but very overprotective shinobi -had of course raised her. There was one little thing about her father though- even though the group hadn't been active at the moment, he had gotten information about a very powerful organization during his twenties.

Now, what is this very organization he had retrieved information on as a mission?

None other than the Akatsuki.

It had been when the organization was as one would say, lying low. The Third Shinobi World War had ended recently, and so plans were being formed. Not many missions had the members been sent on, for they didn't want to become one to be directly in the spotlight at the time, even though they were already well known. The Hokage was curious about this well-known group, the very one that had been involved in helping so much during the recent war, and then had just simply disappeared.

It had been a successful mission, besides for two little things. The fact that two shinobi of the group that had been sent were spotted, which wasn't much of a surprise, and killed without hesitation. Only the other two from the group had been able to return to the village, but one of the two was murdered in the night after a few weeks had passed.

This put the man that survived in alert. He knew he couldn't live his life constantly wary of what fate awaited him though, and tried his best to be as any shinobi.

Over time, he fell in love with a woman, got married, and had one child. This girl was none other than the very one who wandered about Konoha at this moment, one by the name of Reiko. The family had been a happy one, but of course with the daily troubles one family would had.

However, it wasn't long till the mother learned about the mission that her husband had been set on, and what had happened throughout it.

* * *

"_You were the only one to survive, and you know that the other three were murdered by the group the mission involved! How can you not worry about how you're probably next? That one whole past mission probably wrote your very name down for none other than death," the woman yelled, pacing throughout the kitchen at 1:37 in the morning. Her child was sleeping in her bedroom, since she had been put to bed quite a few hours ago, but the yelling kept her from sleeping any longer than she had. The voices in the little girl's ears could easily be made out as her parents, but what they were saying ended up in nothing but familiar muffled voices through the wall._

"_It's been six years since that mission! The Akatsuki probably have forgotten about it all by now! If they had been planning to kill me, they would've done in a long time ago?"_

"_You know the Akatsuki isn't exactly known for generosity! They wouldn't have forgotten about such a thing! They might know they're known as a danger to the shinobi villages, and that certain members in the organization have their names, appearances, and range of abilities known, but they wouldn't be stupid enough to just give away information about their plans! That's one of the things they most likely know they need to prevent enemies from knowing!"_

"_I know all of this! You don't think I haven't thought about all of this before?"_

" _No, I'm very aware of the fact you've probably thought about all of this many, many times. But you can't just let this whole thing go, and live everyday as if nothing ever happened! If you're killed, I'll probably be dragged into the whole situation as well, along with our daughter!"_

* * *

A year later, the man was killed during a mission. The cause of his death was unknown, but his death overall wasn't much of a surprise. Everyone that heard about it only guessed that the Akatsuki had killed him.

When the mother heard the news about her husband, most of the following days were full of fretting for her. Truly, she became paranoid over time. She knew that the Akatsuki would do their research, and would probably learn about her, the husband of the man they had recently murdered. She didn't fret much about herself, but more about her daughter, who knew nothing of the whole situation, other than the fact that her dad would never be coming back from his mission.

It wasn't long till the woman left the village. However, she did so without her daughter. She left her daughter back in the village, to live and prosper- have kids of her own and raise a family, while she herself went to a small village tucked away in a dense forest.

The mother, though, after all her attempts to escape, was also found and murdered over time.

And that was how the small girl ended up on her own in the village at age 6, without her family. The Akatsuki, at the time, knew nothing of the small girl. The Hokage knew that if the organization learned about the girl, they would probably send a member to come after her as well. They knew all too well that information about their organization spread quickly, so people of not too much importance that had information on them had to be put to death, just as a caution call.

Two years had the little girl lived on her own, but every now and then she'd get some help during struggles from certain ones in the village. During all this time though, never once had she learned about the cause of her father's death, and her mother's disappearance. She tried not to think about it much though, since such thoughts would slowly drag a carnivorous depression over her.

Over time, however, one certain Tsuchikage had learned about the past successful mission in Konoha, after a failing mission of their own on the exact same organization. After days of research, he soon came to learning about the deaths it had caused, and if there were any survivors that could have any remainders of the information.

One would probably guess getting information on the organization wouldn't be such a big thing, mostly when it was from a few years ago. He knew that at some point it would most likely end up giving the Leaf an advantage though in certain situations, so he wasn't planning on just passing by such a thing.

Of course, he knew the Hokage would have the information, probably written on scrolls and locked away somewhere, along with in her own memory. It would be too much of a risk though, trying to pull such a thing of getting information from the Hokage herself, or wherever she would have thought to hide it.

His next option was the wife of the last man to be killed. It didn't last long though, since after finding the village she had fled to, he learned about her death as well.

This was the point at which he had been planning to give up, and forget about such a small thing. This thought was changed though, by one little detail he had come to learning about;

The daughter of the last man, and woman who had been murdered from the mission.

If he could just see if she had any memory of information from the mission, or any idea of where such information could be held, all the simple work he put into learning so much about a past mission could pay off.

Sorry if this whole chapter, erm, prologue, was a bore. Trust me though, the first chapter will actually have talking and interesting stuff in it. I guess this prologue was just… stuff that should be known for the whole story to make sense. If I left it out, it would probably be a pain to bring it into the story piece by piece, and it would probably end up in a whole confusing mess.

* * *

Naruto does not belong to me.

Reiko belongs to me, along with her parents.


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note;

Alright, now that all that stuff about my OC's past and all has been cleared up, I can actually get on to the story. Deidara will end up in a part of this chapter, at the end, but not all that much. In the next chapter though, he'll be in it a lot.

Before I start the chapter though, I'm going to point out one thing, just so this doesn't cause confusion. Two shinobi are going to be sent/on a mission in this chapter. One is just a random Iwagakure shinobi, but the other is Deidara's father. I don't exactly have a name for him… but if I ever think of one, I'll say so and start using it.

If you have any suggestions for a name, feel free to tell them.

* * *

Deidara | Ten years of age | Residing in Iwagakure | Iwagakure Nin | Genin

Reiko | Eight years of age | Residing in Konohagakure | Enrolled in Ninja Academy

* * *

Chapter 1

"The Little Fawn."

* * *

"_She's just a little girl. What about her parents? People that'll noti-"_

"_Her parents are both dead, according to research. Besides the Hokage herself, or a few other Leaf ninjas, it's the best opportunity to reach the information we're aiming at," the Tsuchikage spoke, clearing his throat a bit as he cut off the man, who was known as Deidara's father._

"_I know that, but we can't just take her from her own village! It's the same as someone taking my son from this very villa-"_

"_That has no purpose to this conversation," he stated sternly, not planning on changing any plans of his. "Your mission has already been assigned. You shall bring the girl of the Leaf, Reiko Nakamura, back here, and then report to me. Your partner has already been assigned."_

_There was a pause in the room, before a subtle sigh slipped from the man's lips. He knew there would be no point in continuing the argument any longer, for he was a mere shinobi, while the one he was talking to was the Tsuchikage himself- the leader of his village._

"_Alright."_

* * *

"Are you sure this is the girl," a voice whispered, making sure the question could be heard by no other than his partner.

Two Iwagakure shinobi were perched on different tree branches, hidden by the leaves that sprouted from them, and others on the tree. Both of the pairs of eyes that the two owned were directed at one, and one thing only; a small girl crouched over a little stream.

The small girl's face was hidden from the site of the two shinobi lingering in the area, but if a strand of her fawn colored hair seemed to move, even the smallest bit, one of them would probably be able to catch a fleeting glimpse of her bright sea foam green eyes, and the petite features of her face. She seemed to be watching the stream, maybe for something such as a sign of movement, or she could've just been staring at it in thought. For the two shinobi, the answer to such a thing was irrelevant though.

"Reiko Nakamura," the other Iwagakure shinobi, who was the father of Deidara, stated in a whisper, his eyes not budging at all as he spoke to his partner. "It's definitely her."

"Well, how are we going to bring her back to the village," the man's partner questioned, his eyes gliding over to his partner just a bit. "We don't want her screaming like a banshee all the way back…"

"Cause a distraction, knock he-"

It was then that the shinobi was cut off, by none other than a rather loud rustling in a nearby tree. At the sound, the small girl's attention was directed right to where it came from, which was close to where one of the men was.

Upon the change of the girl's attention, the two Shinobi managed to change there whereabouts in the trees, ending up on opposite sides of the girl and the stream. After the quick change, the two fell silent, matching the silence that lingered besides from the sound of the stream.

A few seconds passed, before a small blue bird quickly burst out of the tree the rustling had come from. At the appearance, the small girl, Reiko, seemed to lose all curiosity of the little event, and simply watched as it flew off and out of sight.

"Now!"

The sudden call that filled the clearing, disrupting the sound of the stream and silence, seemed to jolt Reiko, and bewilderment filled her eyes as they widened, and hurriedly searched all around her.

The call, on the other hand, was a signal to both Deidara's father and his partner, as the two both jumped out of their hiding spots at it, and down onto the ground that the girl resided on.

Deidara's father was in front of the girl, while his partner remained behind her. At first glance, the girl seemed to not have noticed the shinobi behind her, for her shocked and rather scared eyes first flew to the figure of the shinobi in front of her. Before she had time to notice his partner behind her though, the man had swerved a hand from behind, applying a sudden pressure to the carotid artery from the side of her neck.

A silence then filled the clearing as the three seemed to freeze in that position for a second. However, it wasn't long before the hit on Reiko's neck took affect, her eyes drooping as her legs collapsed. Instead of hitting the ground though, she fell into the arms of the shinobi behind her.

"Seems like we won't have much trouble now," Deidara's father said as his partner stood up with the girl in his arms, taking a few steps forward.

"That is, if we get out of here before someone notices."

"True."

After a glance shared between the two, the man holding the girl was already off, heading through the trees in the direction of Iwagakure. Deidara's father hesitated for just a second, a thought passing through his mind as he watched the two, but he was soon off after his partner, not planning on getting left behind.

Even though Iwagakure shinobi were always known for their 'rock-hard' attitude- always going through missions without any hesitation –he couldn't help but feel somewhat bad for the girl, having a son of his own around the same age. Of course, he wouldn't even show it though.

_And to think, to go as far as capture a little girl for information on the Akatsuki._

* * *

Once the two shinobi arrived back at Iwagakure, Reiko was still yet to have woken up. Since the direct orders given to them were to report back to the Tsuchikage upon arrival, they decided to head straight through the streets of the stone village, disregarding all the strange glances from passer-byes in the street, and right to the Tsuchikage's office.

"Enter," the Tsuchikage stated, glancing up from a few scrolls on his desk at the sound of knock on the door.

The shinobi carrying Reiko was the first one to enter, who was followed by Deidara's father.

"I see you've retrieved the girl, correct?"

The two nodded, and stood there as the Tsuchikage thought over a few options on how to see if the girl knew about whereabouts of the information he needed. Of course, he wasn't planning on jumping to rash options- so he went with the first one that most people would usually use as a first choice, simple interrogation.

"Bring her to the hospital, and get someone to wake her up out of her unconscious state," he said, which once again earned a nod from both of the shinobi. "Then simply question her on whereabouts of the information on the Akatsuki, or if she knows any of it. If she objects to speak, one of you report back to me."

"Hai, Tsuchikage." Deidara's father said, before gesturing for his partner to leave along with him. The two then headed out of the door, leaving the Tsuchikage in his office in silence.

_The Hokage will most definitely not be ecstatic about my decision..._

* * *

It wasn't long before Reiko was in the Iwagakure village hospital, lied out on a small white bed in one of the hospital rooms. Outside the room, the sound of voices coming from a nurse and a shinobi could be heard, but since the girl was still unconscious, no one but the two participating in the conversation could overhear it.

"The Tsuchikage ordered us to bring her here, and to have someone wake her up. Knocking her out had been the only way we could bring her here without getting caught up in any trouble, so we had no other choice."

A silence followed the voice of the shinobi, before the nurse spoke.

"If that's what he said…" the nurse said, trailing off in thought. The best thing would've been just to let the girl wake up naturally, but orders were orders, so there was no other choice.

"Smelling salts might work. I'll grab some and be back soon."

The shinobi nodded, and then watched as the nurse walked off, before turning and heading back into the small hospital room the girl resided in. When he entered, he couldn't help but look over at the girl, which caused a pang of pity to surge through him once again.

_Well, at least there isn't any harm being done to her…_ he thought, glancing over at his partner who remained seated by the window in the room.

"And?" his partner asked, looking back at him.

"The nurse went to retrieve some smelling salts to wake her up, which after that we will start the interrogation."

* * *

After a few minutes, the nurse was back in the room, holding a small jar of smelling salts under Reiko's nose. At the strong smell, she jolted up straight in the small bed, which caused the nurse to have to quickly retreat her arm as to not spill the salts.

"She should be wide awake now," the nurse said, grabbing the cap to the jar off of the bedside table, and placing it back on as to keep the strong smell from hanging around in the room. "It is likely she'll be panicked though, along with maybe a bit on the drowsy side."

What the nurse said just happened to be right. The bewildered and panicked look from before was still plastered on the girl's face, as she quickly looked side to side, seemingly trying to figure out where she was.

"Where…?" was all she could manage to mutter, before she fell silent once again. Seeing that none of them were attacking her or such, and that she was in what seemed to be a hospital room, she seemed to relax just a bit, but one could easily still see how panicked and scared she was.

"Don't worry," Deidara's father said as the nurse grabbed a few things, preparing to leave the room. "You're fine. Nothing's going to be done to you. We just need to ask you a few que-"

"I'd suggest you wait till she's calmed down a bit. Leave her alone in the room some." The nurse interrupted, now heading towards the door.

The shinobi fell silent a second or two after the nurse spoke, knowing that this was probably the right thing to do. However, there was also the chance that leaving the girl alone in the room could cause her to just panic more, and that wasn't a chance they wanted to take.

"We're not going to alter the Tsuchikage's orders," The partnering shinobi replied bluntly, looking from the nurse to Deidara's father. "We're going to simply start the interrogation now."

A slight frown came upon the face of Deidara's father, but he knew that he shouldn't object to such a thing.

"Alright."

He then turned to face Reiko, who still had the same wary look of bewilderment on her face. However, instead of constantly searching around the room, she was now looking right at him.

"Reiko Nakamura," he said, clearing his throat some. "We're going to need to ask you a few questions. If you do not oblige to answering them… Well, we'll decide what happens then on later terms."

The shock once again came clear on her face, but this time it was shock to something else. She hadn't told these people her name- had she? No, she didn't even know these people. But, by the headbands on their foreheads, it was obvious that they were shinobi. She just wasn't familiar with the symbol, since it was obvious that it did not belong to the leaf, which was also proved by their attire.

As Deidara's father pulled up a chair and sat down, Reiko said nothing in reply to what he had said. It wasn't much of a surprise to him though, for he wasn't expecting this to go along smoothly.

"Do you know anything about the Akatsuki's plans?" he started out with.

Silence lingered in the room for a few seconds. No answer was ever put out, besides for a look of confusion on the little girl's face. If one studied her face though, it was obvious she probably wasn't planning to answer any of the questions they would bring up.

_She must not know about the Akatsuki…_ he thought, sighing a bit. What had he been thinking? Most little kids didn't know about the Akatsuki.

"Let me start out elsewhere." he said, rethinking over how to start the interrogation. If just the name 'Akatsuki' wasn't all too familiar to her, he couldn't start with any question relating to them. On the other hand, any questions too complex probably wouldn't be the best either.

"Your father- he once went on a mission, and never came back, didn't he?"

The question seemed to stir the girl a bit, for a frown started to pull at the corner of her lips. She seemed to not be happy about the mention of her father.

"Do you know why he never came back?"

After this, the girl did nothing to the point at which the man was about to move on. However, at the last second, she shook her head just the littlest bit, which motivated the man some.

"Well… This might be hard for you to take in, but as you must already know, as by living in one of the main Shinobi nations, shinobi do sometimes die during missions, by fighting for their villages, and loved ones, and never come back," he said, leaning back in his chair as he spoke. "However, there was a certain reason as to why your father never came back… One more complex than just dying in a fight. He was killed. By the Akatsuki."

* * *

The Tsuchikage was sitting in his office an hour later, this time looking out of one of the many windows carved in the rock building. His thoughts were disturbed though when a shinobi, who was the partner of Deidara's father on the mission, appeared in the room, a scroll in his hand.

"The interrogation is finished." He informed, watching the leader of his village turn to look at him.

"That was quick."

"She wouldn't answer any of the questions," the shinobi said, walking up to the desk of the Tsuchikage and setting down the scroll, which had a list of the questions they asked. "Overall, she never even spoke once."

The Tsuchikage's mood immediately dropped some when he was informed of this, and he frowned.

"Did you at least manage to get some information?"

The shinobi shook their head. "All we got is that there's a great chance she is not familiar with the Akatsuki, and the mission her father went on."

A sigh slipped out from the Tsuchikage, and he fell silent as he thought about the current situation, and what to do.

A few seconds passed, and seconds soon turned to minutes as the two stood in the silenced room. It was then that he spoke up once again.

"Have a few medical ninjas use a memory probing ninjutsu on her," he said, looking back over at the shinobi. "If they find possible whereabouts on the information, or any parts of the information overall, report back to me right away."

The shinobi nodded, and was then off again, heading back to the hospital.

* * *

Once Deidara's father got the information from his partner back in the hospital, the two were to wait in the room the girl was in until the medical ninjas had time to work on the girl.

The two shinobi were on opposite sides of the room, Deidara's father sitting in a chair as his partner was standing, looking out of the small window in the room once again. The girl, on the other hand, was simply sitting on the bed, her forehead rested on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs as her knees stayed in a bent upright position.

Silence filled the room for around twenty minutes, and no one ever said a word. Every now and then one of the shinobi would glance at the girl, but she never budged, so her eyes and face remained hidden in her arms.

However, the silence was soon broken, by the sound of the door slamming open. The three in the room seemed to jolt up at the sound, even the little girl. At the sound, the two shinobi had mainly been expecting to see medical ninjas standing in the doorway.

What they saw standing in the doorway though was not what they were expecting. It was none other than a young ten-year-old boy, one with long blonde hair, who was the son of one of the shinobi.

The boy's father blinked, as the girl and his partner stayed silent, just staring at the blonde boy, who's name was Deidara. Deidara, on the other hand, first looked at his father, before looking at the younger girl and raising an eyebrow.

"Deidara?" his father asked, which caused the blonde boy to look back at his father, disregarding the unknown girl in the room.

"Uh, I came here to say mother's condition is getting worse, yeah…" he said, a slight frown on his face as he focused on his father.

At the news, his father instantly scowled. About a year ago, his wife had fallen ill. She had come to the hospital a few times, and they gave her treatment, but recently, it just kept getting worse. The possibility of her dying had even come up at some point.

"I see," he said, nodding slowly at his son's words. Even though he wanted badly to see and check on his wife, he knew he shouldn't leave his post in the room, for he was still assigned to the mission, and it was not yet done.

A sigh escaped his lips, and he put a hand on his forehead. "Even though I badly want to make sure she's alright, I was told to stay here by the Tsuchikage, so I have no choice but to sta-"

"Think again," his partner said, gesturing over to three medical ninjas standing in the doorway. "Seems like you're lucky this time."

The father was a bit surprised, but was definitely glad that they showed up. "Well, it seems like I'll actually be able to go see her."

His partner nodded, while Deidara glanced over at the medical ninja. It was strange to him, an unknown girl getting fussed over. What was so special about her anyways? She was just another girl in the shinobi world.

He was snapped out of his thoughts though when his father called for him over by the doorway. He instantly looked away from the medical ninjas, who had by then entered the room, and over to his father.

"Coming," he said, sparing one last glance, which was more like a slight frown, over at the girl, who was now focused on the medical ninjas, before following his father.

Once they were out of the room, his father's partner followed behind, shutting the door on his way out.

"They'll be working on her for a while," the partner informed Deidara's father. "We'll be called back when needed once again."

Deidara's father nodded, and then watched as his partner strode off before looking down at his son. It was obvious from the look in his eyes that he was slightly confused as to what was wrong with the girl, and who she even was. Nothing had looked to be wrong with her, so why was she in the hospital in the first place?

"Come on, let's go see your mother." He said, knowing that the Tsuchikage definitely wouldn't be happy if his son learned about the girl and all.

The two then set off down the hallway, Deidara lost in thought as he followed his father with a frown. His father said nothing, but would glance back at his son every now and then, noticing how far into his thoughts he was.

_Hopefully he isn't curious about the girl…_ he thought with a sigh, knowing how much trouble his son often got into due to his mischievous doings. And some of these mischievous doings were out of curiosity.

_Oh, who am I kidding? He's probably thinking about her._

* * *

Naruto does not belong to me.

Reiko belongs to me, along with her parents.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"The Arrogant Blonde."

* * *

For around three hours the medical ninjas had worked on the little girl. Truthfully, searching through someone's memory wasn't all that easy. It was like searching through a huge unsorted dictionary. And what made it even harder was the fact that they weren't exactly certain about what to be looking for, since it was deemed she knew nothing of the information straight on.

In the end though, their work seemed to pay off. At around the age of five, the girl had learned about a small hidden storage area in the house her family owned, which was where they stored important scrolls. Since no other clues to other whereabouts of the information could be found, they took it as their best bet.

When a report had been given back to the Tsuchikage, he was slightly doubtful of the possibility that any information from the mission could be held there, but he tried to shake the doubt from his thoughts.

The next day, Deidara's father was called back to the Tsuchikage's office, along with his partner on the mission. The mission was brought to an end at that point, but the Tsuchikage now had other things for the two.

"I have thought over it for a while now, about returning the girl to Konohagakure," the Tsuchikage said, his eyes on the two standing on the opposite side of his desk. "And I'm sure it's already been reported that she has been missing, for when I got the report of her memories, it was said that she is enrolled in the ninja academy in her village."

The two nodded in return to what they were hearing. Even though it wasn't all that clear as to what he was getting to, they stayed silent.

"The Hokage will not be pleased if she learns about the girl being brought here. And so, I had it arranged for a seal to be put on her memories, so she has no recall of any past memories up to now. All she knows now is her name, and age. Knowing villagers most likely would get suspicious about such a thing, the seal was disguised as amnesia."

It took a few seconds for this to sink into the two shinobi. Before the Tsuchikage had decided to continue though, the partnering shinobi spoke.

"So, are you planning to return her to her rightful village with 'amnesia', saying she was found somewhere near our village?"

The Tsuchikage shook his head. "No, since that would just cause suspicion, and later problems. For if it were stated that she had been found near Iwagakure with amnesia, there would have been no way for a person to know which village she was truly from. And with Tsunade being one of the best medical ninjas out there, she'd easily be able to detect the seal. So, I have decided, she will stay here in the village."

The two seemed to blink simultaneously at the decision. Both of them thought it would be more reasonable to just think of another reason as to why the girl could have been gone, and return her, but they weren't going to oppose the Tsuchikage's orders.

"Where are you planning to put her though," Deidara's father asked, staring at the Tsuchikage with slight confusion. "She can't just live in the hospital."

"And that is why I have decided that she will stay with you and your family, for it would be better to put her near another child around her age. Her and your son are only two years apart, and he is a student of mine, so I am sure I can entrust her to your family."

A frown seemed to come upon the face of Deidara's father, but it was soon replaced by just a sigh. He knew better than to object to this.

"Understood," he said. "When will she be introduced into my family?"

"Whenever. She still remains in the hospital this moment, but she's awake and fine. When you are planning to get her, just simply go and retrieve her. Once she is in your home, then return here for further missions."

After a nod from Deidara's father before he left, the Tsuchikage then turned his attention to the other shinobi, who was still standing in the room.

"As for you, you will be sent on a mission to the place in Konohagakure that was found out about through the girl's memories. There is a chance that the information needed is being held there, so you must not fail."

"Hai."

* * *

An hour later, Deidara's father went to pick up the girl from the hospital. When he got there, she seemed to be a completely different person, but he knew it was only from the 'amnesia' she now had.

This time, instead of hiding her face every single second, and not saying a word, her eyes were now travelling around the hospital room without hesitation, a look of curiosity lingering in them.

After discussing with a nurse for a while about the girl's current condition, he left the hospital with the girl.

"Do you remember your name?" he asked as he walked through a street in the rock village, holding the little girl's hand to make sure she didn't wander off.

The girl's attention ripped away from the shops and people she had been looking at, and instantly went over to the man when he spoke to her. At first, she remained silent, before answering the question.

"Reiko." She stated bluntly, absently watching the man.

Deidara's father nodded with a slight smile, before looking back ahead of himself. As Reiko returned to looking around the village, he led her up to the door of a single house and pushed it open.

Not much light filled the room the door opened up into, for most of the lights in the house overall were turned off because of the absence of others. However, some light shone into the open room from the nearby kitchen.

"Deidara, are you home?"

A young blonde boy, who was sitting at the table in the kitchen, jerked his head up at the call of his name. It was easy for him to tell it came from the front door, so his first instincts were to look in that direction.

"Coming," he called back to his father, before hopping off of the wooden seat and walking down the hall to the front door, the soft pats coming from his bare feet hitting the ground filling the hallway as he did so.

When he turned the corner that lead to the front door, the first thing that caught his attention was the earlier girl, who was now having her shoes taken off by his own father.

"What is that doing here, hm?" he asked with a slight frown, not going any closer to the girl as if she had a contagious sickness.

Once the girl's shoes had been properly removed, Deidara's father stood back up, looking at his son. The girl simply watched the man stand up, before looking at the blonde as well.

"Her name's Reiko, she's eight years old," he explained. "We found her on our mission, and apparently she has amnesia. She was brought back here, and once the medics tried to regain her memory, the Tsuchikage said to place her in our family."

A tsk came from Deidara. His parents barely had time to spend with him, much less with this girl. And by what his father said, she was younger than him, so who were they expecting to take care of her?

However, at that very moment, Deidara knew right what his father had been going to say.

"Wait, don't tell me your going to make me watch over this brat!"

His father blinked a bit, staring at his son with a confused look for a second. He then smiled nervously, rubbing the back of his head as well.

"Well, your mother is too sick to do so, and I have another mission to do, so… Yes."

Deidara then started to grimace, not wanting to be stuck with the girl. Between training with the Tsuchikage, working to improve his art, which he was known for in the village, and having free time for himself, how was his father expecting him to take care of a _little girl? _And to make it worse, she had amnesia!

"You've got to be kidding me, yeah…" he mumbled, looking at the girl with an annoyed glare. In return, she just blankly looked at him, and blinked.

"Sorry, but it's just how it has to be for now," his father said. "I can't go against the Tsuchikage's orders, and neither can you." He then turned around, and started to head out of the front door. Before he was fully out, he looked over his shoulder at his son and the girl.

"I'll be home later. It might be late though. Just show Reiko around, and make sure she doesn't leave the house."

Deidara simply replied with a 'hpmh', before his father shut the door. Silence then filled the room, as the ten year old boy and eight year old girl stood there. Deidara had his arms crossed, and was looking at the girl with a grimace. The girl, however, just turned around from watching his father, and looked at him with a blank expression, blinking in confusion every now and then.

"Barging in here, giving me a brat to take care of, and then leaving," he mumbled, obviously annoyed. Instead of continuing to rant on about it though, he just turned around and started to walk back down the hallway.

"Are you coming or what, hm!"

Reiko blinked, before quickly stumbling after him. Deidara didn't look back at her once, nor did he slow down his pace for her smaller legs. He instead just walked straight down the hallway, and to a room that was supposed to be for guests.

"Here. Your bedroom," he said bluntly, pointing in the bedroom as Reiko finally stumbled up behind him. Once she regained her composure, she looked at the bedroom before the blonde continued. "Just go in there and do whatever you want to, yeah. Don't bother me."

Without saying anything else, he then continued down the hallway at a quick pace.

Reiko quickly looked back at him as he walked off, before once again following after him, disregarding what he said about going into the bedroom.

It didn't take long Deidara to realize this, and when he did he certainly wasn't all that ecstatic about it. He knew that she probably wasn't that quick though, so he just quickened his pace. Not once did the girl stop following him though, for she just continued to persistently stumble after him, trying to quicken her pace to match his as well.

"What, yeah?" he practically yelled, coming to an abrupt stop in the hallway and turning around. Reiko didn't notice this all that quickly though, and ended up running right into him with a soft thud. It didn't tamper with his composure at all though, for he was by far stronger and bigger, so the girl simply ended up budging back a step. She then looked up at him with a questioning look.

The expression on Deidara's face was just getting more and more irritated by every second. Did she not understand what it mean to _go _in the _room_?

"Look," he said, grabbing the girl by her lower arm and practically dragging her back to the guest room. He then let go of her once he reached the door, before entering the room, and looking back at her. "See? I went in the room, yeah!"

Reiko once again just simply watched him with a blank expression. She never said anything, and just instead watched everything he did.

Deidara then came back out of the room, and gestured for her to do the same that he had did. "Now you go in the room."

Reiko watched him, and then looked back at the room. For a few seconds, she was silent, before looking back at Deidara and pointing at the room with a questioning look. "Go in… the room?" she repeated, speaking for the first time in the blonde's presence.

"Yes, go in the room," he practically growled, annoyed with how stupid she was. He knew it was probably from her amnesia, but he didn't care at all about whatever was wrong with her.

Reiko blinked, before slowly nodding. She then took a step forward, before putting both of her hands on Deidara's side and attempting to push him in the direction of the room.

"Not me you idiot, hm!" he growled as he almost literally face-palmed, not being moved at all by her attempts. He then instead took her hands, and pushed her into the room. "It's your bedroom, so you go in the room!"

Reiko stumbled into the bedroom, before regaining her composure and looking back at the once again retreating blonde. For a few seconds, Deidara was relieved that he had finally gotten her to stay in the room, but that hope was soon crushed when he heard the familiar soft patter of feet, not matching his own steps.

Once again he came to a stop, and Reiko just came up and stopped behind him as well. It was then that he let out a loud irritated sigh.

"How hard is it to just stay in the room?" he growled under his breath, wanting the smaller girl just to disappear. As he spat curses about how annoying she was, she simply watched him with the same very agitating questioning look.

"If you're not going to stay in the room, yeah, how about you try staying in the kitchen," he muttered, having to keep himself from exploding at the girl.

Without saying a word, Deidara walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, Reiko trailing behind like a stray dog. As Reiko glanced around the new room, Deidara went to the fridge, and started to rummage through what they had. It was obvious that somebody in the family would have to go to the market soon for more food supplies, which would probably be him, but since his father told him he had to watch over the girl, and he couldn't let her out of the house, he was stuck with what they had left at the moment.

While Deidara was off trying to find something to give to Reiko, which was more just to be a distraction, Reiko spotted a small while object residing on one of the kitchen counters, out of Deidara's sight. Of course, it struck her curiosity, and so she silently went over to the cabinet it was on, before reaching up and grasping the feeble object.

From just touching the object, which turned out to be a clay sculpture of an animal of some sort, one of the legs seemed to be bent in an abnormal fashion. It didn't stop Reiko from inspecting the sculpture though.

By the time Reiko was turning the object around in her hands, smudging and morphing a few details of it, Deidara had finally found something suitable for her to eat.

"Maybe this will keep you still, hmm-" he started to say as he turned around with a piece of fruit in one of his hands. His visible blue eye instantly flew to the small white object in her hand though, which just happened to be his own artwork, which he was known for in the village, and he froze right in the middle of his sentence.

"You… brat…" he said, a dark look gathering in his expression. It wasn't till then that Reiko had torn her attention away from the sculpture, and looked at the blonde, who's anger was slowly gathering. Even though he was furious at the younger gir, there was a wide smirk across his face- one which anyone could easily tell was simply out of frustration.  
"I will kill you!" he exclaimed, dropping the fruit without hesitation and furiously running at the younger girl. At the sudden abrupt movement, Reiko's eyes widened, and her instincts kicked in, compelling her to turn and run off down the hallway.

Deidara was trained, and his agility most likely passed Reiko's by far, but she was smaller, which just increased her speed and gave her an advantage when it came to turning and dodging swiftly. Neither of these things had any matter in the chase the two ended up in throughout the house though, since Deidara was simply fueled by furious anger, while Reiko was most likely running as if from a wild animal aiming to kill her.

"Where do you think you're going to run, hm!" he yelled after her. She could run quickly, but she couldn't run forever. At some point, she'd have to give in to the outraged blonde, who had far more energy than her.

Reiko never replied, and instead just glanced back at him as she continued to flee with bewildered eyes. When a corner in the hallway came up though, she turned around for just a second, to do none other than throw the clay object right at Deidara's face.

The small white sculpture had never dried, since it hadn't had enough time to. It had been made earlier in the morning, before training, by none other than Deidara. He usually made at least one clay sculpture everyday at most, for he had pride in his art, mostly because it was praised throughout the village. It was what he was known for, and no one doubted his abilities when it came to it.

When the clay sculpture and Deidara's face collided, it caused him to stumble just the slightest as the clay splattered out across his face. The sticky, wet, and moist substance seemed to stick to his skin as he regained his composure, but a few clumps of it fell to the ground.

An even darker look then fell upon his now clay covered face, but Reiko had no time to see it since she quickly set off around the corner before she had a chance to. Deidara, on the other hand, stayed standing there, glaring in the direction the small girl had gone in.

"That brat…" he growled, his hands clenched into fists as his eye twitched just a bit. He didn't make an attempt to continue chasing after her, but instead just turned around and went back off down the hallway, muttering curses about how he was going to kill her the next time he saw her, even if he was only exaggerating.

An hour later, Deidara was sitting in the kitchen, his feet rested up on the table as he messed around with some new clay. The clay that had splattered across his face earlier was now gone, since he had cleaned it off of his face right afterwards. Reiko hadn't shown up once ever since she ran off, and he had made absolutely no attempt to go look for her. Overall, he really was hoping she had gotten lost somehow, and was now gone. He knew that wouldn't be a possibility though.

Seconds passed by, and seconds soon turned to minutes. Fifteen minutes later, he tore his eyes away from his current creation and glanced in the direction of the hallway. All that filled the room and the hallway was just silence, and nothing else, which caused him to narrow his eyes with suspicion.

"Now where did that brat go off to now, hm," he mumbled to himself, taking his feet off of the table and standing up off of the chair. Leaving his clay creation sitting on the table, he then set off down the hallway, his blonde hair streaming behind him.

When he looked in the front room, she wasn't there. Nor was she in the room he had said was hers now, which was definitely not a surprise to him from earlier experiences. All of the other rooms he checked were empty as well. The only room that was left afterwards was…

His own bedroom.

"She better not be in there…" he muttered, heading out of the last room he checked and going straight to his own. When he reached it, the door was shut, but he couldn't remember if it had been him that had closed it.

Without hesitating, the blonde opened up the door, not caring to try and be quiet or anything of the sort. Inside of the room, the lights were off and the window blinds were stopping any light from leaking into the room. Even with the room almost pitch black, he could easily make out the dark figure in the room from the small amount of light that shone in from the hallway.

Reiko was spread out across his bed, her eyes closed. One arm was heading off to the side, while the other arm was rested halfway on her chest. Her long hair, on the other hand, was going off in all directions on the bed. From what he could see, she was asleep, since the only movement coming from her was the rising and falling of her chest in breathing patterns.

"So she can't manage to stay in her own room, yet she'll stay in mine, yeah." He muttered angrily, staying in the doorway. For a few seconds, he just watched her sleep from where he stood, but he soon simply took a step back, and then shut the door.

An irritated sigh escaped his lips, as he stood there staring at the door. He wasn't going to move her out of his room or wake her up at the least, since it wasn't like he needed to be in his room at the moment anyways. Instead, he went back down the hallway and into the kitchen to continue with his artwork.

Of course, at some point he'd kick her out of his room. He wasn't going to forget about what she did with his earlier creation, either. He still had to get her for that.

* * *

Naruto does not belong to me.

Reiko belongs to me, along with her parents.


End file.
